2016 has been a rough year for a lot of people, for a lot of reasons. That said,Ryan Goslingis having a pretty stellar year, having starred in bothThe Nice GuysandLa La Land. The former was met with critical praise, despite not doing great at the box office, butLa La Landis doing well at the box office and is an awards season favorite, largely thanks to directorDamien Chazelle. Apparently, the pairing smells like success because the two are teaming back up for a biopic about astronautNeil Armstrong.
The Hollywood Reporterbroke the news thatRyan Goslingwill be playing the American icon in Universal Pictures’First Man. The movie is based on the bookFirst Man: A Life of Neil A. ArmstrongbyJames Hansenand tells the story ofNeil Armstrong, who most people know as the first man to ever set foot on the moon. There has been some Oscar buzz forRyan Goslingfor his work inLa La Land, and taking on a project like this has the early workings of something that could also get him some awards recognition down the line. Here is how THR is describing the movie.
“The movie will aim to tell the story of NASA’s mission to land a man on the moon, specifically the years 1961 to 1969, according to studio sources. The goal is to explore the sacrifices and the cost - on Armstrong and on the nation - of one of the most dangerous missions in history.”
First Manhas reportedly been in the works for some time, withRyan Goslingcircling the role for more than a year now, but the deal finally closed recently and now things can move forward. Having a director likeDamien Chazelleattached certainly doesn’t hurt anything, even if this will be abit of a departurefor him. His last movieWhiplashgot quite a bit of awards season love, earningJ.K. Simmonsa Best Supporting Actor Oscar and his latest movieLa La Landshould also get quite a bit of Oscar love. The difference being that both of those movies were heavily entrenched in music.Whiplashtaking place in the world of very serious jazz musicians andLa La Landbeing more of a traditional musical. Making a biopic about an American hero is definitely a bit different, but he has proven to be a good director, so there is no reason to think he can’t do a good job withFirst Man.
At the momentDamien Chazelledoesn’t have any other projects listed, so he should be able to devote his full attention toFirst Manand get the project off the ground. As forRyan Gosling, he is keeping quite busy. He just finished filmingBlade Runner 2049withArrivaldirectorDenis Villeneuveand has also completed another movie,Weightless. But his schedule also looks to be clear enough for him to get to work on bringingNeil Armstrongto the big screen.
Twilight,The Fault in Our StarsandThe Maze RunnerproducersMarty BowenandWyck Godfreyare set to produce the movie, withIsaac Klausneron as an Executive Producer. There is no word yet on a release date forFirst Man, but the project is aiming to shoot next year. AssumingLa La Landdoes as well at the Academy Awards this year as everyone is expecting, Universal will surely make the movie a top priority moving forward.
